Reviews

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

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thatnatiam's review against another edition

4.0

I've been wanting to read this classic for awhile, and it did not disappoint. It was filled with so many intriguing concepts and themes that are very applicable even still today. I don't give it 5 stars because I wouldn't recommend it to any audience, but it is a definite must-read for many. A few favorite quotes that summarize the themes I truly feel the most passionate about from the book:
-The idea of people "getting rid of everything unpleasant instead of learning to put up with it."
-"What you need... is something with tears for a change. Nothing costs enough here."
-"I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin... I'm claiming the right to be unhappy..."

One more note in comparison to 1984 by George Orwell--it carried similar ideas (although they were expressed in opposite ways). I came across this quote by Neil Postman that sums it up incredibly:

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions."

In 1984, Huxley added, "people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us".”